cincinnati zoo. at one point, there were billions of these birds. so many that they would travel in large floks that would darken the sky. commercial and recreational hunting led to extinction. now the same science that brought us dolly the cloned sheep has advanced to the point where scientists might be able to bring them back. the extinction is national geographic story. >> maybe it got frozen somehow, you can use that to create an embryo, you can implant it in a living animal, that egg will become an animal. >> don't expect t-rex with the museum of natural history. >> you have to divide it into stone cold dead, which is what dinosaurs are, they're fossils, and then things that went

recently extinct that you may have specimen of what amounts to be the carcass of the animal. >> the extinction happened, in 2003, a team of french scientists brought back a type of mountain goat. the last one died in 1990, but scientists preserved cells and were able to genetically engineer it and it lived ten minutes before dying. while it may be cool to have them back, there are a number of ethical issues. the animal habitat may no longer exist. what happens in this new world of genetics where people pick and choose genetic quality. >> the technology is the same with a passenger pigeon or virus. what it means is that shortly we can synthesize completely new organisms, organisms that never existed in nature. >> scientists envision a world where extinct may not always mean the end, where animals

return, but it is a new realm of science where we don't have all of the answers. lisa sylvester, cnn, washington. how cool is that. coming up at 7:00 tonight, we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of pink introduced's "dark side of the moon." want to know how we are doing it? tune in. "the situation room" with wolf blitzer begins right now. the president wraps up his middle east charm offensive. was it a bigger success than expected? and two top republicans and potential presidential rivals here in "the situation room." stand by for my interviews with senator rand paul and congressman paul ryan. and when salt kills. new warnings about hidden dangers, especially for young kids. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

i covered the middle east for a long time, watched american presidents try to navigate the mine fields of the region and the peace process. overall, president obama sets the right tone this week during this, his first trip to israel since taking office. but there's certainly a lot of hard work ahead, if he hopes to make any real inroads towards peace and deal with huge dangers in the region now. our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin is standing by, and john king are joining us from amman, jordan, where the president wrapped up his trip. he has done well in jordan, now the hard work begins. where do we go from here? >> reporter: the white house feels he accomplished what they set out as his primary goal, which was to reconnect with the israeli people and convince them

that he understands where they're coming from on the primary security issues. the big question as you point out, can this lead to real accomplishments, that would be on the peace front with palestinians, simply too many questions that remain outstanding when it comes to settlements and exchange of prisoners, other major issues that the arab world and palestinians are unsatisfied with. and syria, iran, these are still just two looming trouble spots that are unaddressed at this point, but what we do know, the president and netanyahu prime minister of israel ended the note on a renewed -- >> reporter: the frost melted, major concession from netanyahu, they now have a real partnership, ability to work together. >> reporter: both gave a little. the president's position on peace, the president tried to

get them to the table, benjamin netanyahu has been demanding, palestinians demand he stopped settlement construction. the president said he wants them back at the table and didn't accept the precondition idea. he moved a little on the netanyahu way. from the white house perspective, it is difficult. you covered it more than 30 years. he may have raised hopes too high. from the white house perspective, you have to say it was picture perfect. >> what was the reaction, jessica, on the ground. you went to the jerusalem convention center where he spoke to several thousand young israelis. what was the reaction you felt and saw? >> they were moved, moved by the president's speech and a little surprised, wolf. the criticism by israelis of the president has been that he lectures them too often, on an emotional level doesn't understand why jews in israel feel so fiercely they have to act early in self defense in

many instances. for the first time, many of those critics felt he understood because he connected it to his own experience as an african-american. he was -- has understood the civil rights movement and because of the history of america and because he said several crucial phrases, essentially said that israel will never go away. so he sort of laid out the honey, then he went and gave the vinegar line saying you have to actually now do a few things you don't like, and here they are. he did a good job from the israeli critics' perspective. >> the palestinians aren't happy, the disproportionate amount of time in israel and what he asked of the two leaders, made no public demand of netanyahu yet in israel he talked about the settlement issue. it is different than four years ago, on the arab street,

including ra mal a, thought it would be different. now the israelis think we understand each other better here. >> one thing the president succeeded doing, strategically very important, john, the president set up a phone call between the prime minister of israel and the leader of turkey, the prime minister, and they both agreed turkey, a nate oh ally, israel a close ally, they were going to try to normalize the relationship. it is important for the region and the u.s. as well. >> the strain goes back, wolf, a couple years, when israeli commandos killed a citizen, part of humanitarian effort to bring aid to gaza. israel had up a blockade because of military disagreements with gaza, hamas and gaza. this has been long running feud between two leaders. their pride getting in the way of a resolution. the president helped broker it.

the turks say we got what we want, apology, compensation for the victims. from the u.s. perspective, incredibly important. look at a map. this is his first trip to the region since the arab spring. syria, iran, questions about palestinian process, hamas launching rockets from gaza, egypt is a question mark, libya, who does the united states tres, israel and turkey. both sides of syria. traditionally governments the united states wants to trust, when there are difficult things, you need help from the region, it is usually turkey and syria. to have it back on a better track, not completely there, but on a better track is better for the region, israel and turkey, huge assist for the united states. >> and he pushed bb netanyahu, a stubborn man sometimes to do this. a real accomplishment for the president who set low expectations, so he exceeded low

expectations they set probably deliberately. >> israel, turkey, significant achievement. he played a critical role in that. jessica, john, safe trip back to washington. now the latest rounds of threats from north korea. ominously from the country supreme military command which regularly parades an arsenal of missiles and rockets through the streets of pyongyang. they claim north korea has the capacity to hit military bases in guam and japan. we have a closer look, ominous discussion there, tom. >> it is, wolf. you have to put it in context. couple weeks ago, north korea talked about putting a nuclear missile on the u.s. mainland, a lot of and lists said it was a fantasy. this latest claim is more plausible. look at why. japan is only 800 miles away. there are 38,000 u.s. troops

there, army, navy, air force, marines. guam, 2,000 miles away, a longer shot, 5700 troops there. but really attractive target, this is also one of the united states' most important bomber bases in the entire world, wolf. >> what would north korea use to deliver such attacks? >> likely talking about a missile attack. remember when they launched that missile into space, a rocket, it was a huge accomplishment. they hadn't been able to do it before. this is still somewhat experimental, haven't been that good at it. they have, however, typo dong series, which are more reliable, not as powerful. they might be able to carry a nuclear pay load, a conventional war head. they have a reasonable chance of hitting targets, japan for sure. maybe all the way down to guam with some control. >> some people point out the

bases are protected with missile defense systems. supposedly could thwart a surprise attack. >> it is possible. one thing important to remember about missile defense systems, they haven't proven anywhere in the world to be as reliable as we would like them to be. they work better when you have more warning time and a longer flight, when you know that the missile will be in the air long enough to give you one, two, three, four, five attempts to bring it down. shorter range shots, harder to do that. the bigger deterrent, wolf, what the response would be. if north korea dared to do this, undeniably, the response from the u.s. and allies would be overwhelming. >> major, major military war, let's not forget, there are a million north korean troops north of the demilitarized zone north of south korea. it would be a disaster for everyone if that happens. let's hope it doesn't. tomorrow foreman in the virtual

studio. congress avoided a government shut down in the short term, but there was plenty of partisan fighting about the budget. is there any hope for a long term grand bargain between the president and republicans? chief congressional couldn't, dana bash joins us now. dana, very different budget approved by the house and senate. they have to supposedly reconcile the differences. >> i like you said supposedly. i cannot wait to see that happen. you're right, they could not be more different. you know this, wolf, the budget each chamber, each party puts out reflects their political priorities. boy do we see in black and white the very reason why it has been hard to am could together on economic policy. the house passed the ryan budt which they say balances the budget in ten years, but with huge spending cuts and even tax cuts as well. and on the senate side, democrats raise taxes by a

trillion dollars, cut spending by about the same, don't balance the budget in the near future. ultimately this doesn't have to become law, these are blueprints, but ultimately if there's any chance at dealing with the debt and deficit, these two, very different philosophies and visions. >> early april, the president comes up with his budget recommendation. a lot of people are hoping all of this will eventually result in the grand bargain, a real deal looking down the road, everyone on board basically. a deal that would avoid, for example, having to worry about raising the debt ceiling end of july, early august. is that at all doable? >> it is possible. i wouldn't go as far as saying doable now. but what i will say, the difference in approach now versus say two years ago when they tried this and it failed and it was, you know, almost the end of the world as the u.s. bumped up against the debt ceiling, the difference is they are going through what we call in washington regular order. everything is done in the open.

i think that has lead to a different atmosphere on capitol hill where people know what's going on, they're voting on measures, and they're not waiting to see the white smoke from the white house when the president and house speaker and others are having private meetings that nobody is involved in. the fact that they didn't trust each other, then rank and file didn't trust them behind closed doors, that added to the problem. the fact it is happening in the open could help. >> at least the president is engaged in the so-called charm offensive, speaking with republicans, inviting them for a lunch, going out to dinner, that can't hurt either. >> by all accounts, it is helping. >> i think it does. thanks very much. in a little, i will ask the house budget committee chairman paul ryan if they're serious about a budget deal and ambitions for 2016. also, another contender for 2016, senator rand paul from kentucky. when we come back, push for

tougher gun control in the senate. why one key lawmaker said she's not going to lie down and play dead. plus, new research shows the health price we pay for too much salt. it may be a lot higher than anyone thought. we have details here in "the situation room." ♪ [ male announcer ] were you more interesting in your twenties, or now? when you were starting out? or after a few decades working in some well-worn character? experience makes you wiser for the wear.

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just over three months since the newtown, connecticut massacre. harry reid formally introduced a gun bill he says will be debated when lawmakers return from two week recess. joining us to talk about that and moore, cnn's chief political analyst, gloria borger and senior analyst, ron bronstein, national journal editorial director. thanks for coming in. dianne feinstein said she is not very happy that apparently the assault weapons ban would be submitted as amendment as opposed to part of the bill. >> this is very important to me. i am not going to lay down and play dead. i think the american people have said in every single public poll that they support this kind of legislation, not to give me a

vote on this would be a major betrayal of trust as i would see it. >> she will get a vote as an amendment, but it won't be part of a comprehensive bill, and it is almost certainly going to die. >> right. and i think that's not a surprise to a lot of people. and normally people say let's blame the republican party for that. the truth of the matter is that there are a handful of senate democrats up for re-election in pro-gun states like arkansas, montana, south dakota, for example, who would be in real trouble on an issue like an assault weapons ban. people believe it is a constitutional issue in their state. i think that the democratic party as well as the republican party is reluctant on this issue. if it had been easy to do, they would have renewed the ban on assault weapons when it expired. >> first of all, we are seeing a change in the very fact we are debating this. this issue was under a gag rule for a decade after al gore's

defeat, and the national debate encouraged action in blue leaning states like colorado, new york, and connecticut. but the problem is, gloria, that democrats are divided and republicans by ideology. red state democrats have been reluctant to vote for this, going back to 1994, they had a lot of defection on red districts and red state democrats. the difference is gun control advocates haven't been able to put pressure on republicans from blue places to make up for those. as a result, doesn't seem to be anything near majority. >> and harry reid, leader of the democratic party in the senate that made this decision is from nevada, which is a pro-gun state. >> the vice president was in new york, meeting with the mayor, michael bloomberg. we all know what joe biden would like to see and what the mayor would like to see. let me play a clip from biden.

>> it must be awful, being in public office and concluding that even though you might believe you should take action that you can't take action because of political consequence you face. what a heck of a way to make a living. i mean that sincerely. what a heck of a way to have to have to act. >> it is interesting. polls show that if nationally the overwhelming majority of the american public wants stricter rules, but they can't get it through politically. >> that's what's interesting about this. the legislative and presidential politics of this are different. legislatively, they face a problem of geography. small state status mag any fies the status of small states where it is not politically sellable in most cases. as you point out, in national politics there's majority of support, especially among what's become the democrats' coalition

of the ascending. young people, minorities, college educated voters, especially women. majority issues. while it is difficult to pass them congressionally, blocking them and unifying opposition is not without cost in terms of peeling from constituency to win back the white house. >> think of it as a presidential race, you look at the national numbers, that's one thing. when you look at the battleground states, that's another. one thing about joe biden. joe biden was part of the coalition that got the ban on assault weapons passed. >> that was a long time ago. >> he feels strongly. joe biden is a visceral politician. what you played in that sound byte, i feel sorry for my political colleagues, they have to vote this way, even though they don't really believe it. when you think about that, it is a tough statement. >> gloria, the problem is more

the opposite, in '94 when they passed it, 38 house republicans from blue districts felt compelled to vote for it. today, gun control advocates have not been able to, they have to go out to mayor efforts and others, they have to beat some republicans in blue leaning areas that voted against it and haven't shown they can do it. >> democrats in '94 paid a significant price for that. >> that's why they haven't touched it since, wolf, they're afraid. absolutely afraid. >> guys, thanks very much. ron and gloria. when we come back, a defense contractor with top secret clearance seduced to give away nuclear secrets. find out how it happened next in "the situation room." just when you thought youle an] had experienced performance a new ride comes along and changes everything. the powerful gs. get great values on your favorite lexus models during the command performance sales event. this is the pursuit of perfection.

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it is the kind of plot you may find in a spy model, older man falls for a beautiful young women and falls for something and it isn't love. that's what allegedly happens with this defense contractor and former army officer. he is charged with passing nuclear secrets to his chinese girlfriend. here is cnn's brian todd. >> reporter: he is an army reservist with top secret clearance, doing contract work for contract command in ohio. benjamin bishop stands accused of leaking nuclear secrets, weapons, war plans, early warning radar systems. u.s. officials say he gave them to a chinese woman 32 years younger who he was having a relationship with. bishop was arrested and in is in custody. his attorney says this. >> served his country honorably for 29 years. maintains he would never do anything to intentionally harm the united states. >> reporter: is the woman a

chinese spy? court documents identify her as person one. 27 years old. a chinese national. the documents say she met bishop at a defense conference and quote, may have been in the conference in order to target individuals like bishop that work with and have access to u.s. classified information regarding person one's purported interests. >> this is a honey trap case. >> reporter: eric o'neal, former fbi counter intelligence officer says a spy master sends an attractive target to get them to give up information. robert hanson spied for the russians. he was portrayed in a hollywood movie "breach" on spies that use honey traps. >> while in that situation, how do they get the information. >> if it is a prostitute, for example, pillow talk. pillow talk comes from this, from the honey trap and spies. you talk to someone, get them to talk after you're done and relaxed, all the endorphins are flowing and happy things are

going on, and people's tongues loosen. >> another was an exotic dancer that in world war i was accused of seducing diplomats to get them to give up secrets. peter earnest, former cia officer that runs the international spy museum says it is not always female spies with male targets. >> during the cold war, germans under marcus wolf had a very active program of sending romeos into west germany, seeing who they could meet and develop relationships with, if they had access to intelligence. >> reporter: a program he says worked well for the east germans. tried to get the chinese embassy in washington to respond to the documents indicating the woman in bishop's case is likely a chinese spy. they haven't responded to calls and e-mails. u.s. officials haven't yet charged the woman with a crime.

brian today, cnn, washington. when we come back, critics are calling for him to quote, come back to earth. house budget committee chairman, paul ryan pushes ahead with his plan to balance the nation's books with major spending cuts. he is here in "the situation room" and he's next. u 8

i had a chance to speak with two top contenders for the republican party 2016 presidential nomination. we will hear from mitt romney's former vice president's running mate, congressman paul ryan. but first, senator rand paul of kentucky who recently complained the gop is becoming in his words stale and moss covered, criticism many believed is aimed at senator john mccain. >> i want you to clarify, there has been a rift between you and him. you suggested the other day that some of the senators and everyone assumed you were

referring to senator mccain when you said the gop of old has grown stale and moss covered. you didn't want to say who you were referring to, but you said everybody knows who you were referring to. were you referring to senator mccain? >> i would say figurative sort of sentence in the sense that it isn't to be taken literally. it was also meant for humor. and i think it garnered a little humor, but it is to say we as a gop need to embrace new ideas and grow our party in a way that some haven't. but i didn't intend it to be directed at one person. >> but he was one of those persons that you were referring to? >> it is a figurative, illusion, it is not meant to be taken for one person. he and i have differences but i prefer to keep it on differences whether or not the whole world is a battlefield, whether you get due process in america. i think those are legitimate debates to have, but i don't want to characterize it any

other way. i have a lot of respect for senator mccain, a war hero, spent many years of his life in a prison in vietnam and deserves respect from that. we can have healthy debate and disagreement in the republican party and grow the party bigger. if you all agree on everything completely, it will be a small party. >> seemed to take it personally. i will play this sound bite. >> references were made to people that were too old and moss covered and that we need new and fresh individuals and ideas and thoughts, and i agree with all of those, every bit of those recommendations and comments that were made. but there is a little bit of benefit of being around for awhile. >> i assume you agree on the last point. >> i have no disagreement. my dad has been around awhile, i think you do gain knowledge through experience and time. and i think our elders are to be

respected. so i don't take any dispute with that, and i really don't have a personal dispute. i think people make more about this than actually is probably accurate. i like john mccain as a person and i really try never to disrespect him and i try to avoid saying that. people on either side of the aisle. i think there are legitimate debates and discussions about how the republican party grows and goes forward and i think there needs to be a new gop, not that we give up on what we believe in, but that what we believe in is more explicit, more clear, and we try to reach audiences we haven't been reaching, latinos, african-americans, young people. so i think there is a reason to think we can evolve in a better direction than we have been. >> one final question, we're almost out of time. you're going to iowa in may for a major republican fund-raising event out there. are you running for president? >> you know, i haven't made a decision. we are concentrating on a lot of the problems we have here, but i

want to be part of the national debate. people get more attention when they go to iowa. people pay attention to what you're doing. and it helps the party there to grow the party to raise money. but it also helps draw attention to if i have ideas about how we grow the party, how we reach out to latino voters and african-american voters, it draws attention to those things by going to iowa, plus we have a lot of friends we developed in iowa over the years. so i am excited to go there, hope i can raise some money for the party. >> senator paul, thanks so much for coming in. >> thank you, wolf. i had a chance to speak with another top republican contender for 2016, wisconsin congressman paul ryan that heads the house budget committee. he scored a major victory thursday when the house passed his controversial blueprint to balance the budget. i asked him about another major stumbling block out there. the man facing that, a different democratic budget plan coming out of the senate. >> where i am cautiously

optimistic, wolf, doing the budget. in the past four years, the senate hasn't done a budget. that means the process stops. what we call regular order where the house and senate pass a budget, you try to reconcile the differences. >> can you reconcile? >> we will find out. at least they're doing a budget. i am cautiously optimistic because the process is continuing. we have a big difference. we balanced the budget, they never balanced the budget. we don't want to keep raising taxes. $1.6 trillion tax increase is beginning this year. we don't want to do more of that, we think it will hurt the economy. spending is the problem. under our budget, spending grows 3.4% on average every year, and just restraining the growth of spending like that gets it to a balanced budget. hopefully somewhere between our budget, spending cuts we have, reforms we have, we can find some common ground. we need to keep talking and hopefully at the end of the day, now that we have a budget process that's moving, find common ground and get agreement to get a down payment on the problem. >> in april, the president will

release his own budget. there will be a house budget, senate budget, the president's budget. do you believe based on the luncheon that you had with the president that he is ready to make compromises, that you're ready to make compromises, by end of july, early august there will be what we call a grand bargain? >> i think it would be helpful to the process if he made them publicly, if he said on paper here is what i am willing to do. that's what we have been doing for years. >> is he going to do that in early april? >> i don't think so. he will produce a budget, it is two months late. but what he has been leading us to believe, he is not doing anything new in the budget. >> do you think he is sincere? >> i don't know the answer to that question. >> you had lunch with him, what was your impression. >> i enjoyed the lunch had a frank and candid conversation. i got the impression he wants to get something done. he believes the window of getting things done is finite. the question on sincerity is one that time will tell, which is will he reengage the campaign in a few short months. will he focus on the campaign

against republicans for 2014 or work to bridge the partisan divide. the question is, will he go back to impugning our motives making it impossible for compromise to occur or produce an environment where people of different parties can talk to each other so we talk more and get common ground at the end of the day. time will tell. i am hopeful. >> if there's no deal by end of july, early august, will you vote to raise the debt ceiling? that's when it has to be raised. >> i think it will come down to all of that. i am not getting into what we will or will not do. i believe we can make sure default is not going to happen. i am not worried about us defaulting. i think we can get the authority from the president to prevent default from happening. but i have to tell you, wolf, we can't keep running up deficits like this. it will damage the economy deeply. people say we don't have a crisis on the horizon, of course we do. we have a debt on a tear. if the debt takes off like it is projected to do so, it is not

only hurting our economy today, it is destroying it for the next generation. we can't sit around and be complicit with that. the problem is we have to do something about that. >> one final question. senator rand paul was here yesterday in "the situation room," 24 hours ago. he said flatly he is going to iowa the next few weeks, seriously thinking of running for the republican presidential nomination in 2016. thinks it is a good idea for him. what about you? >> i am going to make my mind up later. the reason i need to do this job, i am chairman of the budget committee, we have a crisis on the horizon, we need agreements done, i don't think it is good for me or wisconsin district or my colleagues to cloud my judgment at this time with other things. i need to do what i think is right in this moment, working on the budget, i have a leadership position, i take it seriously, and i don't want to cloud it with ideas of what i may or may not do in the future. i want to do the right thing now. then i'll consider those things and i will give it serious consideration, but i'll do it later on. >> you enjoyed campaigning with

mitt romney? >> i did. >> maybe you'll do it again. >> we'll see. >> congressman, thanks very much. >> thanks, wolf. when we come back, we go to baghdad. arwa damon has been there several days, she will update us on what's going on there. also, on allegations of a chemical weapons attack in serious. -- syria. yria.

united nations will investigate claims that each side used chemical weapons. for now, preliminary evidence shows no intelligence indicating a chemical attack took place in recent days. our senior international correspondent, arwa damon is

following this story for us, she's in baghdad now. first of all, the confusion surrounding what's going on in syria two years into this war in syria, 70,000 dead, a couple million refugees, now reports of chemical weapons. it seems to get worse, arwa, every day. >> it is getting worse every day, wolf. i think what you have now unfolding in syria is the worst case scenario. full fledged civil war that claimed tens of thousands of lives, you have neighboring countries struggling to deal with the on-going influx of refuge refugees, you have a polarized society in syria, each side believing it is fighting for its very existence. you have civilian population that continues to bear the brunt of the violence taking place, and you also have the emergence, growing emergence of the extremist groups that are of great concern to everyone, also the united states, of course,

watching that development closely. these groups are also gaining strength and respect on the ground, the longer it drags on. at the end of the day, it doesn't look as if at this point in time the situation will change, it is only going to get worse by the day, and consequences for syria and the region are going to be absolutely devastating. >> we know where iran stands in this battle in syria, the iranian regime supporting the regime of bashar al assad. there are widespread reports that iranian weapons go through iraq on the way to the syrian army. you're there in baghdad. what are you seeing and hearing as far as the iraqi government's position towards the war in syria? >> reporter: the iraqi government claims it is holding a neutral position, neither supporting one side or the other, although it is still continuing to allow according to

the u.s. ambassador to iraq iranian flights of weaponry, refusing to investigate and search planes that are travel through iraqi air space. they tell u.s. officials when questioned about it that the iranian manifest says it is humanitarian supplies and therefore planes don't need to be searched, and the iraqi government is concerned about what's happening in syria, worried there will be some sort of spillover effect when it comes to the situation in iraq, the prime minister himself has said that as well. at the end of the day, the iraqi government right now continues to make the calculation it is in the iraqi government's best interest to continue to try to appease iran, rather than try to appease the west, despite the cost that america paid here. >> enormous costs in ten years in blood and treasure. arwa, be careful there in baghdad. we will stay in close touch. arwa damon from iraq. just ahead, toddlers getting

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i'm jake tapper. this is cnn. >> think about what you and your family will be eating this week. new medical studies say whatever your eating, you're probably getting way, way too much sal. lisa sylvester has some details. new studies are out and they're pretty scary. >> now i am thinking about everything i eat and everything i feed my children, but the bottom line is we are eating way too much salt and most of it coming from processed foods. >> reporter: karen is a healthy cooking coach. she gets lots of practice feeding her 10-month-old

daughter who a big fan of carrots. >> hummus on what? on regular bread? >> reporter: and she has introduced a range of food and spices to her 4-year-old son ryan. there aren't many moms going out there and bringing her children to spice stores. but one seasoning this mom uses sparingly in the family meals is salt. but that's not the case in other households. a new report by the american heart association finds most americans consume double the recommended amount of sodium. so this is the amount of sodium that an adult is actually supposed to consume, about 2300 milligrams of sodium. for a toddler it's about half that amount, about 1,000 milligrams. but most adults actually consume double the amount or 4,000 milligrams. too much sodium causes our body to retain excess fluid and over time raises blood pressure and can lead to hyperteng. the american heart association in a separate study found that

some of the saltiest foods are being marketed to children. the study looked at salt content in baby and toddler meals and found three-quarters of the food like mac and cheese, pizza, and chicken and vegetables have too much salt. that's not a surprise for dr. warren levy. >> anything that comes out of a can, anything with preservatives almost has high sodium. we do need to start paying attention to the sodium content of foods we're giving our kids because high blood pressure is starting at a younger and younger age. >> reporter: but the salt institute believes the recommended daily allowance for salt is not rooted in science but politics. there are benefits to salt. it regulates blood sugar and the body's hydration. morton says sodium has unfairly gotten a bad reputation as a cause of heart disease.

>> we're 16r78 eating a bit too much and we're not getting enough exercise. >> reporter: for karen, it comes down to reading food labels. >> i think you should know what your child is eating. >> reporter: start them young and eat healthy for life. >> fruit soup. >> we also reached out to gerber and they said they use international dietary standards for sodium and that is a higher level than u.s. standards. gerber added that they are currently working at reducing sodium in the toddler meals and they hope to have them in place by the end of the year. >> cut down on the salt. >> it's always a good reminder. you don't necessarily have to reach in but really it's the processed foods. >> all right there. lisa, thanks very much. up next, a prom date like no other. how one hopeful young man got this top model's attention. wow. [ male announcer ] every famous curve has an equally thrilling, lesser-known counterpart. conquer them with the exhilarating is 250.

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...and we inspected his brakes for free. -free is good. -free is very good. [ male announcer ] now get 50% off brake pads and shoes at meineke. when it comes to prom dates one young man is aiming very high. he's asking a famous model. here is cnn's jeanne moos. >> reporter: everyone wants her. will this california high school senior get her? >> it hit me why don't you ask kate upton to prom. everyone is like that's crazy. you're going to embarrass yourself. >> reporter: jake davidson ended up on the "today" show talking to the "sports illustrated" swimsuit model on the phone. >> this just got so much better now that you're on the phone. >> i absolutely loved the video. >> reporter: this video. >> inviting you to my senior prom. >> reporter: from the chaise lounge to the mirror, he wooed her. >> we can ride around all night long until